Worth so much more
by Brobordan
Summary: The AU of Zootopia where Nick Wilde is given away as a child by his parents who, at the time, could not afford a kit in the family. After deciding to give Nick up to a different family they leave him on a doorstep with nothing but a first name. This is his story to adulthood. *Rated T for Author's Flexibility*
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Hey, reader! This is the first fic that I have ever written and am currently learning the trade of writing material worthy of your time to read. In order to fill the job requirement I will need some help from you, the reader. If you could be kind enough to leave any kind of criticisms or anything that could help me make your reading experience that much better. Be as honest as possible.**

 **I was inspired to write this story by fanart believe it or not. The running title of the first draft of this story was Zootopia: Worth 1000 words where the gimmick was to create a short ~1k story on the certain fanart. The story you are about to read was my first attempt at the 1k stories, but while writing it i was inspired to make a fully fleshed out version. I do still plan to use the original idea or maybe just find more inspiration.**

 **With that out of the way I hope you enjoy my first fiction about Zootopia: Worth so Much More!**

Chapter 1: A Better Beginning

It was a late afternoon in the Zootopia slums and its residents settling down after the day's activities. The roads were quiet aside from the rare vehicle that would pass by the rundown homes, piercing the silence of the still roads with the air flowing across the car's exterior and wheels rolling across the cracked asphalt with a audible thud as each axel went over a bump.

In one of these homes a fox kit lay on a surface unknown to him, but it was comfortable and had high walls. He lays in silence unlike the room not too far from his. Muffled yelling and arguing could hardly be heard, but with the child being born weeks before he couldn't make much out of what they were saying.

"You know we can't afford a child!"

"I know, but I can't entertain the idea of giving him away!"

A fox couple in the kitchen of their home argues over the future of the fox kit in a room not too far from them. The father fox paced back and forth at such a pace it would leave a mark. The todd grumbled under his breath at the circumstance that he was currently in. On one hand he always wanted to be a father, but on the other he didn't want a child so soon.

The vixen wife sat in worry for the child's future for she too knew they couldn't support a child with their finances. She thought about the idea of adoption, but who would adopt a fox kit? All fox families are related by blood and have never been known to adopt.

"Well… what do you propose we do?"

"Perhaps different species adoption…?"

"And you expect a non-fox family to take in a fox kit?"

"Well no, but a fox family wouldn't either!"

"So, then I guess we're at square one!"

"Well, we could take him somewhere that has no fox families. That way a family in that area would have to take him."

"Somewhere out of Zootopia?"

The couple thought on this for a moment trying to dissect all the possibilities. Dropping the kit off on a doorstep with no fox families around could increase the chances of him being taken care of. This was the only idea brought up consistently in their argument following making it the final decision.

"Okay, tomorrow morning I'll leave Zootopia and search for a place. Should be back the next morning."

The next morning came swiftly leaving the couple with very little sleep. The weight of what they were about to do was immense and left them thinking all night. 7:30 am and Rick started getting up. He packed the car and found blankets and a child carrier for the kit. He grabbed a cup of coffee that Vivienne prepared. They kissed goodbye and with tears in their eyes as Rick made his way outside of Zootopia.

The fox kit clapped his hands in excitement as he was placed into the back seat of the car. Looking intently out the window as the tall grey buildings pass by unbeknownst to him that'll be the last time he will see them for a while. As the passing buildings transitioned to concrete walls of a tunnel the fox kit was fast asleep.

Upon leaving the exit tunnel from Zootopia, Rick looked at the backseat of the car to check on the fox kit. Fast asleep. Rick smiled to himself briefly then the feelings of fondness were quickly replaced by ones of guilt. He snapped his vision back to the road. This is going to be a long trip.

After a few hours of driving Rick's stomach growled so he assumed that his son would be hungry too. Making a quick stop at a gas station Rick got himself a snack, water and a few softer foods for his son. After getting the fox kit to eat and drink Rick pumped some gas and got back on the road.

After a few more hours of driving Rick decided to stop for more gas. Rick gave his son more food and water then turned to the pump. After paying he opened the back-car door to see his son.

"You know you're a saint of a kid."

The fox kit had no response, but a straight face with eyes unblinking. This gave Rick the impression that his son was already judging him. A wave of dread washed over him. Shortly after Rick was thinking how his son already hated him the kits tongue rolled out of the side of his mouth and the kit went into a fit of laughter. This surprised Rick and even made him chuckle. Rick took his hand and ruffled the fur on his son's head and went to remove the pump. He sat back into the driver's seat and looked back at the kit. Already fast asleep smiling. Bringing a tear to Rick's eye.

After miles of driving Rick decided that the next area to come by would be far enough, plus there isn't a fox town within miles of where he was. After making this decision it wasn't long until a large sign popped up on the horizon reading "Welcome to Bunnyburrow!" accompanied by a counter that was constantly increasing. Rick flinched after reading what the counter was for.

"That's a lot of bunnies."

After driving around the area Rick decided he should find somewhere close to the road so he can make a quick get-away when he drops his son off. Luckily he found one almost right on the road.

"Hopps Estate. Tsk bunnies and their last names."

Looking at the clock it was almost 10 pm. After about a half hour of waiting Rick got out of his car and grabbed the sleeping kit out of the back of the car. Rick parked maybe a quarter mile from the house. Not too close, not too far. Made it easy not to be spotted. Rick made his way over to the house from his vehicle. Taking in a deep breath of the country and the dirt beneath his hind-paws he knew this place was in no way related to city living. Upon reaching the front porch of the house Rick noticed just how large the building was from up close. He placed the basket on the porch and pulled out a piece of paper and pencil and wrote "Nicholas V." Almost writing Wilde at the end but couldn't erase the V that he just made. Finally, Rick placed the note into the basket with Nicholas and rang the doorbell. Upon hearing the doorbell Rick kissed his son's head and quickly made way to his vehicle tears in his eyes.

A high pitched ringing spread throughout the large house. A collection of groans and commands to get the door were muffled through the ornate front door. Eventually the collective noise stopped by a louder voice shouting "COMING!" The door opened wide and at the entrance was a bewildered buck.

"Uhhh… Ummm Hey Ma!?"

"Who is it Barney?!"

"Says here his name is Nicholas V.!"

"What does he want!?"

"By the looks of it probably a place to stay!"

"Place to stay? This isn't some hotel were mammals can..."

As soon as Mrs. Hopps came to the door she was greeted by a wide eyed buck holding a basket with a red fluff ball that was smiling. Upon the sight her heart beat a mile a minute as she bolted out the door looking for the person who left this unexpected package. She shouted asking if someone left him there but no one answered. After about 3 more attempts of shout searching she started heading back to the house. Taking the basket from her son Barney she carefully inspected the contents. There were a few blankets, some meat based baby food, a piece of paper and a red fox kit.

Several questions came racing into her mind and leaving just as fast as they came leaving Bonnie Hopps unable to process what's happening. Why would someone leave a fox kit at our doorstep? Why would you leave a fox kit at a bunny's doorstep? WHY WOULD YOU ABANDON A CHILD? All of these and then some were questions that remained unanswered.

Upon hearing about the commotion from a younger bunny, Stu Hopps, the patriarch of the Hopps clan, came to the foyer of the house to find his wife holding a child carrier with one of the most confused looks he has ever seen.

"Who was at the door Bon?"

No answer

"Bon are you feeling alright?" he asked as he reached for her shoulder to shake her out of her stupor.

"What? Oh yes I'm fine and no one was at the door except this fox kit."

"Fox kit? Is that some kind of threat?"

"None that I've heard of before, but his name is Nicholas V."

Now it was Stu's turn to have the look to total bewilderment as he became unresponsive to anything while he processed the information. Why would someone leave a fox kit at our doorstep? Why would you leave a fox kit at a bunny's doorstep? WHY WOULD YOU ABANDON A CHILD? The same questions that assaulted Bonnie are now stuck in the buck's head.

"Well do you think he was left here for a reason?" inquired Bonnie

"A reason? Of course he was! Everyone knows that those shady lowlifes can't afford to make a living and guess what? Now they've stuck us with their problem!"

"Alright, it's clear we need to talk this over. Kids bedtime!"

A collective groan could be heard resonating from the walls in the foyer followed by dragging footsteps up and down the stairs leaving Mr. and Mrs. Hopps in the large family room. Bonnie walked over and placed the baby carrier on the couch and slowly lifted Nick out of it and held him in her lap.

Nick only stared at Bonnie with droopy eyes making it obvious to her that he needed to sleep. As soon as Nick got comfortable in Bonnie's lap he fell asleep with his head in the crook of Bonnie's elbow.

"What do you think we should do with him?"

"I don't know Bon, I've never been in this kind of situation."

"Well, the way I see it this can only go one of two ways. 1: We pass him onto the CPS in hopes he finds a home. 2: We raise him."

This second option caught the buck off guard and would have made him fall into his seat if he were not already sitting down. Stu felt as if his temples got smashed into by bowling balls as he brought his hands up to rub them.

"Why would we consider option 2?"

"Well I happen to be a sucker for fate and I think it was no accident that this little fox ended up on our doorstep."

"Of course it wasn't an accident, babies don't just appear out of thin air!"

"Well you never said no to raising him."

"Well how about I say it now? No."

"Oh come on Stu, we've raised plenty of kits in the past. Granted they were all ours, but we know a thing or two about raising a child."

"You said it yourself Bon, we have no experience in raising a fox."

"And you have never held a high opinion of foxes, so why don't you raise one like you think they should be? Plus he showed up just in time with the newest litter. He'll fit in perfectly!"

Stu knew that arguing with his wife about child raising was futile. Arguing with her in general was a lose situation for him. As much as Stu didn't like the idea of raising a fox, the idea that CPS would just put him in a orphanage sounded worse, so he finally relented and gave into the will of his wife.

"Okay, we can try to raise him. I do like the idea of a well raised fox, but still hesitant."

"Wonderful! I will make an announcement at breakfast about our new family member!"

"So I'm guessing you will take care of the adoption papers tomorrow?"

Bonnie laughed, "Whatever gets me out of doing the farm work!"

As soon as the conversation was resolved Nick started rustling in Bonnie's lap. A quiet giggle escaped Bonnie's mouth as she cradled him in her arms and carried him to the baby care room in the house. Bonnie knowing exactly how many infants she had in the house knew where an empty cradle could be found. She laid Nick down into it slowly and left the room.

The night went silently on as the whole house was at rest. The first time in the Hopps household that a crying fit didn't happen. Greatly relieving the Hopps matriarch. She needed this peace of mind to sleep, especially after what transpired from tonight. One thought stuck true in her mind, "How is this new fox child going to be affected by bunny raising methods." After thinking about it she came to the inconclusive answer: only time will tell.


	2. Chapter 2

**Hey, reader! I am super happy to see all the support and suggestions that my first story has gotten thus far and I cannot express my gratitude enough. Now I know it is a little early to start making excuses for not getting chapters out in a timely manner, but I am a college student with a job and my real world life will take priority every time. As for my publishing schedule it will probably be around every ~8 days because my only writing time that I have is on weekends and sometimes I work weekends. This is not to say that I won't try to get some writing done because this has always been something that I wanted to do.**

 **Now without further ado I present to you the second chapter of Worth so much more!**

Chapter 2: Family Interactions

The Hopps family went on with the idea of having a fox relative, but if any members had a rebuke then Bonnie would take it up with them personally. Nick was a family member of the rabbit clan as far as the law was concerned and hardly a noticeable addition at that. Nick was a quiet baby that could live with anything they gave him. He wasn't perfect, he'd cry every so often but was easy to calm down. Never threw tantrums and got along with the baby bunnies that were his age.

Nick was a special child. Not very often do you find a kit able to console another kit while distressed. Once while Bonnie was attending to the baby bunnies and Nick, one of the girls started having a tantrum. Bonnie took notice of the distressed bunny and started toward her to assess the situation. As soon as she got up she noticed that Nick was already crawling his way across the blanket he was on. Slowly he made it toward the crying bunny and Bonnie only watched to see what would happen and what did happen surprised her.

Nick finally made it to the crying bunny and lifted his left front paw and placed it on the forehead of the little girl. The baby bunny stopped crying, but couldn't decide as to why. Nick then traced his paw around her face, withdrew it and proceeded to cuddle the bunny. They were both in a fit of giggles and eventually fell asleep tangled into one another.

"That doesn't look too comfortable," Bonnie thought to herself as she inspected the two sleeping infants.

Bonnie picked up the bundle of grey and red separating them into each of her arms. Walking over to two empty cradles and placing the two in either. The baby fox was still fast asleep and was poised to not be awakened until he saw fit, but the baby girl was upset again by the missing cuddle buddy that she just recently had. Bonnie circumvented this issue by placing a small plush toy in the cradle with her daughter Hailey, which she cuddled with immediately.

"Already getting fresh with my daughter, huh Nicky," Bonnie thought to herself.

"Probably shouldn't be saying those kinds of things, Mom," Abigale jokingly said, "seeing as how he now a member of the family."

Abigale is the oldest child of the first litter in the Hopps family. Her fur is an even mix of light and dark grey and two gleaming eyes of dominate blue with brown surrounding the pupil. Extremely patient and opened minded, Abigale has been through quite a few phases, but they never stuck. Never known to raise her voice or even use family friendly curses making her a perfect caregiver and helper for the baby bunnies.

"You're probably right, but did you see what just happened between these two!?"

"Yes, mom, I did. Once it started you pretty much just dropped everything to see how it ended. Luckily I took care of all the crying baby bunnies that Nick and you didn't attend to."

"Oh. I didn't even notice, it was too adorable."

Abigale cracked a wide grin barely being able to maintain the stern face she was using as her front, "You've had how many litters? And now you are experiencing this feeling? Wow that really puts things into perspective."

"I did the same for your litter! I also find all of my children adorable, it's just new experiences that get me."

"Aww thanks mom. And, yeah, I get it. We should probably get some food ready for these little stinkers."

With a nod of her head Bonnie and her daughter exit through the door making their way to the kitchen. Upon reaching the kitchen Bonnie asked Abigale to get started on the bunny baby food while she gets the food for Nick. Abigale obliged and started collecting the different ingredients for the baby food until she heard a short sigh from her mother.

"What's wrong mom?"

"We are out of baby food for Nick."

"Well maybe he will like carrot based baby food. He has been pretty accepting of everything else we've given him."

Maybe Abigale was right. Nick has been a great kit so far. Bonnie pondered on the possibility of giving the fox kit a vegetable based food. How would he react to it? Would he like it? If he did would we not need to get meat based baby food? Bonnie finally decided to help her daughter with preparing the baby bunny food, but with an extra serving.

After getting everything prepared including the dining area the food, Abigale and Bonnie Hopps went to collect the children and get them eating. There were 11 infants in total, including Nick. This was the smallest litter that the Hopps family has seen in a while so feeding them in one go didn't seem like too hard of a task. After transfering all the baby bunnies and fox to the dining area and placing them in the high chairs two by two Bonnie and Abigale started the feeding process.

Nick was placed more toward the middle as Bonnie and Abigale worked from left and right making their way to the center. Putting him closer to the middle meant that a possible issue could be put off instead of having to deal with a grumpy little kit. Eventually they got to Nick, placing the baby food on a sturdy plastic spoon they slowly brought the spoon up to Nick. He gave it a few good sniffs then bit the spoon swiftly startling Abigale as she pulled the spoon toward her.

"If that had been the bargain brand the bowl of this spoon would still be in his mouth," Abigale thought to herself

"Did he like it?"

"I don't know if he even tasted it."

"What does that mean?"

"He ate it pretty fast. Also I can't tell from his face."

Nick's face was one of wonder, but not toward the baby food that he just recieved. Instead Abigale followed his gaze behind her. What she found he was looking at was a few baskets of blueberries.

"Try feeding him more. He might need more since he is a fox."

"How about we try those blueberries? He seems to want those."

"He can try a few, but wash them first."

Abigale walked over to the baskets full of blueberries and picked out a few plump ones she was sure were juicy. Washing them and placing the pesticide and dirt free fruit in a clean washcloth she walked over to the expectant Nick and held one out for him. Nick grabbed it taking up almost a quarter of his hand. He popped it into his mouth and bit down. His eyes widened while he let out a small "yip" of excitement as he clapped his hands trying to get another.

Abigale shook her finger at him saying, "Oh no, you gotta have your veggies before you get more of this stuff."

She placed more of the vegetable based baby food on the spoon and lifted it toward Nick's face. Nick seemed to understand what she had just said and opened his mouth waiting for the spoon. He bit down on it taking in the nasty substance once more. Abigale was surprised as his reaction this time. This time Nick went into a coughing fit.

"Maybe he did like the vegetable baby food, but the blueberry was that much better."

"You think so? He still ate it meaning he might get used to it!"

Nick made eye contact with Abigale after settling down from coughing. He made a cute bark making it clear he was expecting another blueberry. Abigale recognized this and held out another blueberry for him, this one being a tad larger than the last. Nick immediately started eating it remembering how good the last one was. Satisfied, Nick sat patiently in his chair lifting his arms asking to be picked up.

Bonnie and Abigale started moving the litter back to the sleeping room. This time Abigale was holding Nick on the way back to the room. Just as Abigale was placing Nick in his crib he started talking baby gibberish. Abigale found this cute and started playing with the baby fox until the meaningless blabbering became somewhat recognizable.

"Mmu…. muuu…"

"MOM! Mom come here!" Abigale whisper shouted at her mother.

"Muh… me"

"What? What is going on?" Bonnie asked

"Momma!... Muh… muh ma!" Nick cheered

"Awww" both Abigale and Bonnie cooed.

"His first word was Momma!" Abigale started

"Who do you think he was referring to?"

"Me obviously. I did feed him."

"This is the only tolerable way I will hear you be called mom at this age," Bonnie laughed

Nick while the two older bunnies talked made himself comfortable falling asleep after releasing his first words unto the world. With that Nick won the hearts of the matriarch of the Hopps family as well as his eldest sister. Nick was now an official emotional part of this family. And this family wouldn't trade him for the world.

Abigale has never had any experience when it came to raising a child. At most she only helped her mother with taking care of the new litter until Bonnie could manage them herself. Being the most patient and smallest one out of her litter this was a perfect job for her considering the Hopps family owned a farm. Her younger siblings from her litter all happened to be boys. Big burly bucks who didn't mind the dirt when doing farm work. This isn't to say that Abigale was dainty, she lived on a farm after all and would help around during the harvesting seasons, but only if needed. Today happened to be one of those days where she'd leave the babies to her mother.

Today was going to be a hot day in mid August. The only relief that would come to those doing the outside work would be a stray cloud blocking the sun for a short period of time. Working in the morning was a good and well practiced tradition of farming due to the amount of work that needs to be done giving them ample time to do it and the morning might just be the coolest time of day.

The dining room in the Hopps home was very large compared to the standard rabbit home. Large wooden table placed in the center with a variety of hanging and natural lights to illuminate the room. About 5 and a half feet of vertical space with a horizontal length of 20 ft at a width of 12 ft and completed with smooth tiled flooring with rugs placed where spills were less likely to occur.

Abigale didn't resent the information she read off her phone during breakfast. It was more of a small tradition for her just so she has less room to complain when the sun starts beating down. Looking up from her phone and food she checked her surroundings to see who would be working the fields today. As usual Stu was at the head to the table followed by a few of Abigale's litter mates: Aaron, Andrew, Anthony and Abraham. Strange when Abigale only noticed those four. She looked all around the kitchen waiting to see if the last will show up.

Andrew noticed Abigale looking around and nudged her shoulder, "Whatchu looking for 'sis?"

Andrew is the tallest buck in the family having a head and a half on most of the other males. His fur was a dark brown with a small patch of long grey fur on his head. Personality was more of a peaceful giant with his mild manners and never having a mischievous thought ever cross his mind. Often mistaken for a hare and is Stu's number one helper out in the yard.

"Oh nothing Andrew, but where is Aboo?"

"OH! At first I thought he was washing up when I didn't find him in his room."

"That really didn't answer anything, Andrew."

"You are right about that!"

Abigale just looked back at him with a face that screamed "why!?" with an eyebrow cocked, eyes squinted and mouth slightly ajar. The strange responses he made would make anyone feel as if they were the subject of some type of joke. Abigale knew the shenanigans that Aboo could pull so she kept her guard up in case she was the butt end of a joke.

Not soon after Abigale made the conclusion to put her guard up she heard a rustling coming from the kitchen. Much to Abigale's relief and somewhat disappointment after seeing Aboo just coming out of the kitchen with a bowl of cereal wearing only his "lucky" robe which was just all of his old blankets stitched together.

The appearance of her brother confused Abigale and almost made him unrecognizable. Abooksigun, or Aboo, had long brown fur that made him look like a lion's mane fell off and started walking. Now Aboo looked groomed and his fur was cut incredibly short. On his way to the table he covered his face with his ears, probably not wanting to be seen. This was unlike his wild and unpredictable nature, did losing his long fur really have that much of an impact on him?

As Aboo sat down everyone else seemed to be finishing with their food and began standing up. The only one to stay was Aaron and as we walked out to start the day's work all we heard while leaving was Aaron's laughter filling the hallways.

Aaron was behind the little bet between him and Aboo. Aaron was pretty short compared to the rest of the litter besides Abigale. He had short light grey, almost white, fur and deep blue eyes. He is the perfect example of how the smaller guy likes to start trouble. Aaron swindled Aboo into an unwinnable situation not to Aboo's knowledge and his fur was the consequence.

"I hope, for his sake, that none of the youngins take after his personality," Abigale thought to herself.

Upon getting outside it was decently warm, but nothing to gripe about. Each of the helpers grabbed their select supplies for which job they were assigned too. Abigale was positioned on picking produce while the tractor was out of commission along a few others that were at breakfast. Abraham was usually the one to fix the broken equipment on the farm, he had a magic touch for that kind of stuff.

Abraham was almost an exact replica of Andrew except for the height. Although Andrew is much more talkative you could say that about anybody considering that Abraham hardly talks and when he does it's usually to stop fights or disagreements.

The morning went by in a flash seeing as how it was decently enjoyable compared to other days in the field. Hours went by in what felt like minutes while the Hopps family went to work. A lot of the jobs were near completion with the broken parts of fences being fixed, the tractor now moving, but at a ridiculously slow pace and the barn doors could now be fully closed. The produce picking, which relied heavily on the tractor working, was slower due to being done by hand. That is not to say that nothing got done. One of the three vegetable fields was completed by hand with about 10~15 rabbits doing the work.

With the morning activities completed it was now time to take a break for lunch. Everyone except Stu and Abraham came back to the house. Those two seemed adamant on fixing the tractor. Upon entering back into the house there was a table set up with cases of bottled water enough for everyone to take at least two with a few extra remaining.

The food set up in the kitchen was an assortment of vegetable based foods such as cabbage stew, varieties of salads with accompanying dressings and refried beans. After walking through the foyer of the house and making a couple turns to the dining room Abigale with her siblings walked and talked about the morning they had.

"Whew, those barn doors are no joke to fix," started Andrew

"Yeah, I bet. Replacing the fence posts was nothing since the holes were already dug." responded Aboo

"You're lucky you won rock paper scissors. Those new fence posts I did had a rock almost every time!" exclaimed Aaron

"Maybe that is karma for tricking me!" retorted Aboo, "but I gotta say the wind feels great with shorter hair."

"Boy am I glad that you guys get all the hard work. All I got was tedious. Anyone see how close the tractor was to working again?" asked Abigale

"Last I saw it was moving, but we are walking faster than that," Andrew replied.

"Ugh! I thought that Abraham was good with that stuff!"

"He is! He got it working didn't h…."

As Andrew was about to finish he was cut off by a shrill cry from the right end of the dining room.

"Momma!" exclaimed an excited red fox kit

Without looking Abigale knew where that little voice came from. She was overtaken with joy to know that Nick recognized her from yesterday. As she got closer the little fox got happier and happier clapping his hands in delight.

"The baby fox thinks you are his mom?" laughed Andrew

"A fox imprinted on you 'sis?" inquired Aaron

"So that is the new addition to the litter... cute" stated Aboo

"Yeah, he called me momma yesterday when I helped mom feed the litter." replied Abigale while playing with the fox kit

"So technically we're uncles? To a fox?" All the present bucks asked in their own ways

"Well he isn't my legal kit, but if i could have signed the papers I would have."

"Abbie are you still needed outside? I could use the extra help in here," said Bonnie coming out of the kitchen

"You'll have to take that up with dad."

The gaggle of bucks behind Abigale started mumbling to themselves and voiced their complaints about Abigale getting to stay.

"I'm sure dad could use all the help he could get while the tractor is busted," Aboo exclaimed

"Oh come on guys, this baby fox needs his momma!" teased Aaron

"Just tell your father that Abigale is helping me." Bonnie interrupted

"Yes mom," they all complained

The family enjoyed lunch together poking brotherly fun at one another until Abraham and Stu came back to join in on lunch. They all began talking about their next jobs on the farm if they haven't already finished their first task. After receiving the task for the afternoon they went back to their usual antics of teasing and commentary of Aboo's new look. After lunch all the yard work helpers left save for Abigale.

Abigale sat in the chair at the table nearest to the seating area of the children. Food hardly touched as she's just been distracted by playing with Nick the whole time. Making faces and playing peek-a-boo with him. All of which had Nick squealing with joy and his reaction bringing a smile to Abigale's face.

"You two have become rather fond of one another I see." Bonnie said

"Well I did get him to say his first words, as well as being his first word." Abbie replied

"Do you want to be his caretaker? You did say you would have signed the papers."

This caught Abbie off guard. She was just merely saying those things, but did she mean them? She doesn't have any experience with raising a bunny child let alone a fox kit. Considering her options she thought that it might not be that bad of an idea for practice when she raises her own family, plus she'll have her mom for advice every step of the way.

"You mean that?" Abbie almost whispered

"You are almost of age. Family raising is something worth having experience in when going into it." Bonnie said calmly, "he also has been pretty grumpy this morning until you came around."

Bonnie saying this made Abbie's heart swell with happiness.

"I would love to raise him!"

"Wonderful, that leaves me with ten. Now raising a child is a huge responsibility. I will take care of the expenses and such you just have to live with the title of mom while he is growing up," Bonnie paused, "and when he is of age he will recognize that you are not the same species."

"I wholeheartedly accept this role in my life," Abbie stated while lifting Nick up and cuddling him

A new chapter has started in the life of Abigale. A chapter that most at her age would be ashamed of starting so early, but she couldn't be more proud of her situation. She gets to raise a child and the cutest little angel she's ever seen. The sheer joy she was feeling clouded her eyes as she started crying tears of joy almost matching those of a new mother just receiving her newborn.

 **Just a reminder to leave a comment/criticism! I really could use both to help improve my moral and writing style! Also a HUGE thanks to my beta reader and main supporter, Will! Thanks again!**


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Time Skip this time around, reader. Promised myself that I wouldn't put too much effort into "baby Nick" and I think that I, in my opinion, have done justice to him as a baby. No Judy yet. Still not sure how I will end up implementing her into this story. Guess only time will tell. This next section will have skipped over Nick growing up as toddler and all the way until his first day in Elementary School. Yes, I did skip over preschool and kindergarten, but I am sure none of you want to see kids graduate from those grades based off of them surviving by not eating glue/crayons. Also I don't remember much from my days in that time period, so I don't have the ability to write fluently about it.**

Now I present Nick's adventure in Elementary School!

Chapter 3: Educational Findings

The years flew by for Nick growing up, but it is as it is commonly said: "Time flies when you're having fun." This saying couldn't be more true as he and his litter mates rose up through the preliminary schooling. Whether it being having fun in the yard to being little rascals causing trouble in school or at home. Nick was excited to get into first grade because of the new environment that it advertised. He had heard of the dreaded homework but now he wouldn't be in a class with just his litter mates, which to him over shadowed homework. Instead Nick was going to be in a class with different members of different families. He was so excited, in fact, that the drawbacks that he heard from his older siblings didn't phase him; he wanted to make new friends outside his family and today he was going to do just that.

The previous night Nick spent most of his time going through the different scenarios with his new class tomorrow and all the fun he would have with his new friends. Thinking that it was a bad idea to stay awake too late on a school night he went to Abigale's room to help convince his consciousness. Sleeping next to her always calmed him down giving him the chance to get that much-needed shut-eye. Her passive ability to calm him down never failed and just like that night he fell asleep snuggled next to Abigale.

Nick never felt different among the masses of bunnies he lived with. He was under the impression that he was a bunny, just with different colored fur, longer tail and shorter ears. As the happy-go-lucky kit he has always been these differences never bothered him and thought today would be no different.

The morning of his first day Nick was asleep and as unmoving as a rock. Abigale also had to get to school today so rolling over and lightly pressing on Nick's nose did the trick on waking him up. The realization of how deep Nick was sleeping made his eyes shoot open. Meeting the gaze of Abigale he quickly said good morning kissed her on the cheek and ran down the hall back to his room. Nick quickly got showered and dressed. The bathroom wasn't as over run as normal as everyone was already eating breakfast.

Nick's freshly groomed fur and casual outfit of jeans and a plain green shirt he was ready to go to breakfast. Usually it's first come first served, but Nick knew that there were certain foods not everyone liked that he did. Gathering up on his plate a few vegetable based sausages and a piece of toast slathered with light butter. Sitting next to his litter mate Henry who only looked about half done with his plate.

Henry is half a head shorter than Nick, but his ears make up for the height. His fur is a lighter gray with black spots scattered throughout his fur making it look like he has an eye patch and a leather glove on at all times.

"What's up Henry," Nick started

"Oh, I don't know… just having breakfast."

"Well you better hurry up! At this pace I might beat you out of the kitchen!"

"Yeah… I guess you might."

"What's wrong Henry?"

"You know we're going back to school today. I'm scared."

"Scared? Of what, new kids? Don't think of them as strangers. They are new friends!"

With that Henry lifted his head. Didn't take much to convince him to look at things positively. His expression was brighter than it was and he hugged Nick, thanking him for the advice.

"Race you to the car!" Henry shouted as he got up from his seat.

"That's no fair! I haven't even started eating yet!" Nick laughed as he started scarfing his food down.

It was too late, Henry already put his dishes in the sink and bolted past Nick while he sat in his seat. Alone at the table Nick finished his food and in a frenzy to not be late to the car he bolted for the door. Upon exiting the dining room Nick ran into Abigale stepping back a bit from the collision. Abigale grabbing him before he could fall.

"I'd ask why you're running in the house, but you're almost late so I'll let it pass," Abigale playfully scolded.

"Sorry, but I don't want to be late," Nick said starting to walk past her.

"Don't think so. You're not leaving before you give me a hug!" Abigale pulled Nick into a warm hug and kissed him on the forehead, "Now get going! Don't be late on your first day!"

"Thanks mom, love you, BYE!" Nick said as he bolted past her to get outside to the car with the rest of his siblings.

Nick has grown up calling Abigale mom and even at this age when he knows the true definition of "mom" he stills calls her that. She has been his guardian angel since he was a baby showing him nothing but love and support. Nick hasn't really interacted with Bonnie growing up because he usually went to Abigale for all of his problems so to him Abigale was his mom. There is one thing that rarely occurs on his mind though, all his other siblings called Stu "dad," but Nick never really knew the meaning of such seeing as he didn't have a parent besides Abigale. The thought never really bothered Nick because to him Abigale was more than enough.

Racing out the door Nick could see and hear the vehicle sputter to life with the headlights flick on. There were still a few rabbits loading into it so Nick knew he had plenty of time and started slowing his pace. The vehicle's appearance was nothing special, it had many features on it that made it obvious that time has passed and that repairs have happened. It was a high-capacity transportation vehicle, HCTV, usually used in areas populated with animals larger than a rabbit, but smaller than a bear. In BunnyBurrow these vehicles were commonly owned by the larger families in the area and even decorated with unique designs to show it was theirs. The Hopps HCTV was a dark green with "Hopps" painted across each side in almost a graffiti like manner. The interior was different than standard HCTV's with customizations to make the driver's area lower. There was an extra layer of seating due to bunnies being the only mammals to receive rides from it and on each level were two rows of seats split down the middle for ease of access.

Upon entering the vehicle, Nick immediately heard the chatter of his siblings arguing over seats, having idle chat or greeting one another with the common "good morning." Nick looked for Henry to continue talking to him and even perhaps get him more pumped for school. Henry noticed Nick looking and made a waving gesture the simultaneously got Nick's attention and calling him over. Henry was sitting alone with his bag next to him attempting to save the seat. Nick happily sat down once Henry moved his belongings.

"So whatchu put in your bag for the first day?' Henry asked

"Not much really. All I really have is a pen, pencil, notebook and my lunch," Nick said, "I didn't think there would be much to pack since it's only the first day."

"Yeah, I didn't pack much. Do you think that we'll be in the same class?"

"Well I can't say. There wasn't something sent out beforehand was there?"

"I don't think so…" Henry thought out loud

"Well here's to hopping!" Nick laughed

Henry made a playful frown, "Good one," he said sarcastically

Henry and Nick stopped talking for a bit after that pun. During the silence between the two Nick heard all sorts of conversations going on, but could make sense of any of them. Instead Nick took note of all those around him spotting a few of his litter mates and even identifying the driver. The driver was an older sibling in the "B" litter. Older litters would usually drive younger litters to school and go themselves later in the day, that way they can do early morning farm work and give teachers a break between classes.

The rest of the car ride went by swiftly as all the vehicle's occupants eagerly, or nervously, awaited the first day of school to start. The vehicle came to a slow stop in a line of other vehicles of similar fashion, but different color. Slowly making it to the front of the line and eventually stopping with dull red lights flicked on indicating it was time to get off. The driver got up and dismissed each row to avoid the risk of a small riot of bunnies trying to empty out of the bus. Nick and Henry's section was the third to be dismissed.

After getting out onto the concrete Nick was greeted by a large courtyard and the need to stretch his legs. The walkway was about a half-circle with two doors on each end and between them a rock garden. In the middle of the garden was a sitting area accompanied by a small archway with a statue of a rabbit in a suit adjusting his glasses and holding a book. From what Nick could tell after seeing the plack on the square base was that the rabbit, Dr. Werman, was the founder of the school. And finally on each side of the sitting area were two red signs with white lettering spelling out "Field's Edge Academy."

After taking in the sight of the front of the school Nick turned to Henry who was staring at the school entrance:

"Well it looks nice enough," Nick stated putting his hands on his hips

"Seeing it up front is making it scarier…" Henry said worriedly

"Oh come on we've gotten this far! Let's get inside before it gets too crowded!" Nick said excitedly while grabbing Henry's arm almost dragging him along

"Ohhhh boy," Henry slowly said as they swiftly approached the right side entrance.

The two doors on either side of the courtyard led to the commons area, a large room with white flooring and cement walls painted red that are decorated with banners and glass cases full of trophies. The commons area has been decorated to welcome the returning or new students. Signs hang from the ceiling giving directions to the school receptionist at the back of the room as well as greeting the students and welcoming them back to school.

Nick and Henry wasted no time weaving through the small crowd that was forming from the outside and made it to the receptionist desk while the line was still short. Behind the desk was a female pig who was frantically flipping through files and assigning students to certain auditoriums. Students would state their names and grade then would be given a card with their assigned auditorium and homeroom for after the opening ceremony. Nick and Henry finally made it to the front, both stating names and grades and receiving their cards. Stepping away from the line and comparing the listed information.

"Auditorium B and Homeroom 124. What's your homeroom Nick?" Henry asked

"Auhh," Nick groaned, "we aren't in the same homeroom."

Henry leaned over to get a better look at Nick's card, "And we aren't even in the same auditorium… I think they messed your card up, Nick. Says your species is Red Fox."

"Wait, what? Red maybe, but I've never been called a fox. I'll go back and ask the pig lady, you go ahead. I'll look for you in the crowd. Save me a seat!" Nick said as he and Henry parted ways.

Nick looked back at the line, it was noticeably longer than when he and Henry first waited. Groaning to himself he got into the line before it could get any longer. Time seemed as if it were at a crawl while Nick was waiting, looking at the clock and rereading all the signs was the only pass time he could think of. Eavesdropping was out of the question because it was rude as well as almost impossible with the amount of concentration needed to do so.

Nick was about four people away from the front of the line until his shoulder was nudged. Nick didn't turn around to acknowledge it and waited for a small "sorry" or "excuse me" but instead another nudge a little stronger than the last time. To this Nick turned around to address the mammal. Before him he saw a mammal about the same height and near identical physical features to his. The fur was a light brown that darkened as it traveled to the ears, hands and feet. Nick was about to say something, but was swiftly cut off by her own words:

"You already have your ticket? What are you waiting in line for?" she asked

"Uhh well there is a mistake on mine and i wanted to see if I could get it sorted out," as soon as Nick finished saying this his card was swiped from his hand and the she mammal looked it up and down to see if she couldn't find the problem.

She returned the card saying, "I don't see anything wrong with it? Maybe the last name, but other than that it looks okay, Nick."

"How do you know my name?... Wait," Nick chuckled, "it's on my card. What's wrong with the last name?"

The girl huffed, "my name is Olivia, thanks for asking. And says your last name is Hopps and last I checked you aren't a rabbit even says so on your card. Kinda nice seeing another fox at this school!"

Nick was taken aback with realization as he looked this girl up and down, "She's a fox? Am I too!? She looks like me, but a different color!" Nick thought to himself with a shocked expression. "Well first off, my last name is right on my card. I am a Hopps, and how can you prove I'm a fox?" Nick asked slowly

"Well first o…"

"Next!" The pig lady said loudly not looking up from her desk

Nick flinched at holding up the line, "meet me over there after you get your card," Nick pointed to a bench by a closed custodian booth. The girl only nodded at his request.

Nick left the line still unsure of the contents of his card. Existential questions assaulted Nick's mind as he sat alone. "Am I really a fox? I'm in a bunny family, foxes and rabbits are complete opposites!" Nick sat thinking to himself for a little while longer until he noticed Olivia approaching him. Olivia hopped up on the bench and sat next to Nick.

"Like I was saying, it sure is nice to see another fox in school, the only other one is the Grey fox and he's in fourth grade," she said, "also you asked me how I'm sure you're a fox? Well you look pretty similar to me, so I just kinda figured. And you are actually a Hopps!? How do you end up in that situation!?"

Nick looked down and twiddled his thumbs trying to find an answer for her questions. He opened his mouth to respond, but was grabbed at the wrist and dragged to Auditorium A, "C'mon! Walk and talk!" she exclaimed.

On their way to the auditorium Nick stated all his concerns, questions and thoughts, but wasn't sure if she was even listening. She was always a physical couple steps ahead of him and not once did she turn her head to acknowledge what he was saying. They made it through the double doors into the large room with two large sets of bleachers on either side of the room, partially full with the different kinds of students. Olivia lead them up the bleachers and eventually found a spot and as soon as they say down she started addressing all of Nick's questions.

"So you think that since you were raised by bunnies that you are one? Well that is ridiculous, you can't just change species by hanging out with a different one!" she stated playfully.

"That explains a lot on how different I look compared to the rest of my family. Now I've got even more questions for Abbi…" Nick stated hesitantly

"Well let me be the first to congratulate you on being a fox," she laughed, "I can tell we're gonna be good friends!"

When Olivia said that it put a smile on his face and reminded him of why he was so excited for school. If it was even just a moment, Nick was excited for school to start whether him being a fox or a rabbit. "I think so, too! Here's so making my first friend at this school!" Nick said to her.

A voice casted through a sound system silenced the crowd and all eyes were on whoever was in the center of the room. The rally was started with crowd activities to make sure the students were awake and then proceeded to a "meet the faculty" event where the students were separated into groups determined by their homeroom. Nick was thinking about Henry and how he must think Nick abandoned him, but those thoughts were soon cut short when Olivia bumped into him and excitedly said they were in the same homeroom. Nick and Olivia walked and talked side by side among the other students.

"Pretty interesting start to the school year," Nick thought to himself.

 **Hey, reader! I hope you are enjoying this story so far. Also I am sorry for the late upload, what I had written originally for this chapter I really didn't like and it was too short. Other than that I should tell you of the plans I have for the future of the story. As it is now I don't believe it is as good as it can be, but I strive to get to the point where it is worthy of you to recommend it to other people. As always please leave a comment/criticism because they are always so fun to get/read and even learn from!**


	4. Chapter 4

***Sorry for the reupload. There were a few oversights in this chapter that started bugging me***

A/N: Hey, reader! Let me start off by thanking you for reading my story and if you have left a review I thank you even more! I didn't think that Nick's "reveal" of him being a fox would be so well received. That part was the lowest on my list in my author's notebook, but i guess everything worked out in the long haul.

Nick and Olivia followed their classmates out of the auditorium in a loosely organized mob. There were a lot of different mammals in Nick's class mostly around his size. Nick and Olivia were the second tallest species in the class just barely edged out by the three coyotes who were currently at the back of the line talking to one another. All mammals in the class began to idly chat with one another. Interestingly, Nick noted that his classmates tended to talk within their species.

Along the way to their homeroom, Nick was chatting with Olivia and at one point looked past her and spotted another line of students walking behind an adult. All these students were all rabbits and had no diverse species in them. Nick thought about Henry again and started to worry until he saw Henry a few lines over. Nick waved to try and get his attention, but the two lines took separate paths, Henry's going through double doors at the end of the hall and Nick's line entering the stairwell.

"Who were you waving to?" Olivia asked.

"My brother Henry. He was super scared to come to school today and I told him I'd be with him the entire time. He probably thinks I left him," Nick worriedly said.

Olivia had a puzzled look for a few seconds then clarity, "Almost forgot you're a rabbit fox," she laughed.

"I'll have to tell you everything later. This whole fox thing is going to confuse a lot of my family. How is Abigale going to react!?" Nick exclaimed.

"Well if your reaction to being a fox is anything to go off of, you might want to hold off on telling them," Olivia suggested, "Also who's Abigale?"

"Abigale is my mom," Nick stated, "but I guess not my real mom since she's a rabbit…"

As Nick said this the line came to a stop as the leading adult opened another door, this time holding it open for the whole line. Entering the room, Nick took note of his surroundings. The door was in the corner of the room and on the opposite wall of the door are windows that had a view of the back of the school. The center of the room had five rows by five columns of seats all facing away from the door toward a whiteboard that was decorated with expo marker ink and a variety of encouraging posters. The wall on the opposite side of the whiteboard was also decorated with posters but also had a small indentation that looked like it served as a coat room.

After taking in the sites of the room, the students walked into the room and placed their bags in seats. Mammals that were already talking with one another chose their seats so that they could sit near one another. With how spaced apart everyone was there was bound to be assigned seating. As all the students either explored the room of took their seats to continue their conversations, the teacher came in, grabbed a marker from the board and immediately started writing her name.

The teacher finished writing and turned around to greet the class, "Good morning, students! I am Mrs. Trelpha and I will be your home room teacher!"

Mrs. Trelpha is a young lioness with short freshly groomed fur. Currently wearing a freshly cleaned white button-down blouse and black dress pants. Looking professional for her first day as to make a good impression on the students.

Turning around to walk to her desk she sat down and grabbed a stack of papers and tapped them on the desk as to straighten them. She then lifted her head and asked, "who's ready for a test?" She lifted up the stack of papers. The class loudly complained and groaned which brought a smile to Mrs. Trelpha's face.

"Don't worry, it's an easy test because it is about you," she exclaimed passing out the papers, "this is for you to fill out so I can have something to get to know you guys more."

After all the students got the test which was quickly followed by a wave of relief washing over them as the "test" only asked the students name, species, favorite color, food and a fun fact about their species. Nick had no problem answering these questions and apparently neither did any of the other students. As soon as Nick answered all the questions he caught himself at the last question. Nicks paper read "What is one fun fact about your species? Answer: Rabbits can't eat carrots all the time because they contain too much sugar and will make them sick." Nick took his pencil and started erasing the answer remembering that he isn't a rabbit anymore.

Leaning over to Olivia, Nick asked, "what's a fun fact about foxes?"

Olivia put a claw to her chin, "well I already said we can see in the dark. Maybe something about the tail, like how its the softest thing in existence."

"That's an interesting opinion," Nick pointed out subconsciously petting his tail.

Olivia thought again, this time making an audible hum, "how about dog fox and vixen? Both are names for foxes except one is a boy and one is a girl."

"That seems fun enough," Nick stated as he started writing it down.

"Alright, ready to turn it in?" she asked getting up.

Nick and Olivia both started heading up to the front to hand in their tests. After placing them in they walked back to their seats and sat down. Mrs. Trelpha, who was standing with her hands folded, asked if everyone has turned their in their tests to which the class responded with nods or variations of yes. She then brought out a small stack of folded flash cards and placed them on the desk next to where the tests were turned in.

"Alright everyone, come grab one of these cards, but don't open it until I tell you to," Mrs. Trelpha said.

Everyone followed her request and got up to grab a card. After receiving their cards they all went back to their seats and awaited further instruction. Nick sat patiently, quietly discussing what could be written in the folded flash card with Olivia. Olivia guessed it would be more questions while Nick thought it was a pass of some sort.

"You may now open your flashcards," Mrs. Trelpha said after the quiet talking settled down, "Now there are twenty four of you in this class and I put a number from one to three splitting the class into groups of three. I want group one to meet right here," she pointed at a group of seats close to the window, "group two to meet over there by the door and group three will meet by the coat room. Try to make space for everyone and I will be coming around asking questions to make sure you guys are getting to know one another."

Nick opened his flash card but barely had enough time to read it before Olivia snatched it to compare with hers.

"You know, you really gotta stop doing that," Nick suggested.

"You were taking too long. I'm probably better at math anyway," Olivia replied in a jokingly snotty matter.

Nick threw on a confused look, "there wasn't even any math. Are we in the same group or not?"

"Yeah we are, we're both in group two," she replied already getting up, "c'mon let's go."

Both of the foxes got up and started toward the group forming at the door. Before getting there, Nick could tell the group was waiting on them, but some have already started having light conversation.

"Hey, guys!" Olivia exclaimed as she took a seat next to Nick. "My name is Olivia Marks and this is Ni… Well I'll let him introduce himself," she laughed.

"Gee thanks," Nick said sarcastically. "I'm Nick Hopps."

One of the coyotes' ears perked, "Nick Hopps? Like the rabbit family? You don't look like a rabbit."

"And you are?" Nick asked expectantly.

"Oh sorry. My name's Jaden Warn, but my friends call me J.D."

"Nice to meet you J.D. and yes I am part of the Hopps family, probably adopted," Nick answered the previous question.

"Guess I'll go next," the other coyote started. "I'm Gustav Warn, we're brothers."

"Is that coyote over there related as well?" a raccoon asked.

"What's your name first," Gustav quickly replied.

"Oh, I'm Sally Verindicto," she sheepishly said.

"Hi, Sally and no, he isn't related," J.D. stepped in.

The pleasantries and ice breaker games went on throughout the time they had in class. Every ten or so minutes Mrs. Trelpha would ring a small bell on her desk to assign different numbers so that everyone had the chance to meet everyone all while she was surveying her students and how they interacted with one another. Half an hour into home room and everyone was somewhat familiar with one another to the point where the seating arrangement was much more compact than it previously was.

The students chatted for about five minutes as the teacher typed away at her desk while looking over the test the students took earlier. "Students, I'm going to try to put names to faces before you go to the next teacher, so I'll start calling out names and just raise your hand or say you're here." After calling off each name and receiving a gesture of acknowledgement she stood up and passed out a marker and a name tag sticker. The students all wrote their names and placed their name tags somewhere on their shirts, avoiding contact between fur and adhesive. "Everyone ready to go?" Mrs. Trelpha asked as she held open the door. All the students nodded their heads and started walking out the door.

"I wonder what our classroom teacher is gonna be like," Olivia thought out loud.

"Well, if Mrs. Trelpha is anything to go by, I'd guess he's pretty cool," stated Nick.

The group of students was led down the hallway about 7 doors down to a new class room that had a lot more space than the home room. This room was also less decorated than the last, no colorful banners or posters to be seen anywhere. There is no whiteboard, instead there is a blackboard with a blank face other than the teacher's name, who is currently sitting at his desk looking over something on his desk. Mrs. Trelpha pulls out a chair and takes a seat in the corner of the room as the other teacher bagan to get up out of his seat.

"Good morning students and welcome to your classroom. I am your teacher, Mr. Scratcher," the bobcat stated in a serious tone. "Because this is the first day I want to address how confusing it might seem to have two classes. Home room is the start and end of the day where you can work on assignments. The class is the main portion of the day where you will spend most of your time learning. Does anyone have any questions about scheduling?" He waited for a hand or for someone to speak up, but none of the students did. "Good, now onto what you will be learning in here." He started placing papers onto the empty tables, "Everyone take a seat and hold onto these papers, they are important for the year. It includes the full schedule of the year and what we will learn about in those days, for example on Mondays we will go over handwriting and spelling. Now turn to the last page of the handout and tear it off." The students did so and carefully looked it over. "Did Mrs. Trelpha give you guys a test to get to know you?" the students nodded their heads. "Good, now that page you just tore off is a handwriting worksheet. Fill it out to the best of your ability." The bobcat sat back at his desk and started looking at whatever he was examining earlier.

"Well he isn't very nice, at least I don't think he's very nice," Olivia whispered to Nick.

"It did seem like something was bothering him. Maybe it's his face. I wouldn't be very happy if I always looked grumpy," quietly Nick responded.

"At least this isn't a tough assignment. It's pretty close to the one Mrs. Trelpha gave except there are lines provided for the answers."

"Ughh I hate doing these! My paw always cramps!" Nick complained waving his paw around.

"Quit complaining you big baby and hurry up. I just finished mine," Olivia stated impatiently as she unblinkingly watched Nick finish his.

"Okay, I'm done," Nick lifted his head. "Jeez, feel free to blink, Olivia."

Olivia blinked a few times and looked toward the front of the room. No one has turned their in so she doesn't know where to turn it in. "Yeah, sorry. Do you know where to turn these in?" she eventually asked.

"Let's just put them on that empty desk. That's what Mrs. Trelpha had us do."

Both agreeing on that and getting up from their seats they started toward the empty desk near the front of the class. The teacher lifted his head, "Yes? Do you have a question?"

"Well we were just going to turn these in on the table, but we don't have a question," Nick nervously stated.

"What's your name, student?" He asked suddenly.

"Uh umm my name is Nick… Nick Hopps," Nick replied in a even more nervous tone.

"Well, Nick Hopps, you don't look much like a bunny, but maybe it's just a coincidence," he started mumbling toward the end. "Well it look like that table is a perfect spot for turning those in. Don't be nervous when making a proactive decision next time. And you, what is your name?" he aimed at Olivia.

"My name is Olivia, Olivia Marks!" she beamed in response.

"Could take a few notes from your friend here on initiative, Nick. In any case it's nice to meet you Ms. Marks. Now please return to your seats and we'll start more of the class after everyone has turned theirs in, okay?" Mr. Scratcher urged them.

The two foxes only nodded their heads at his request and they quickly placed their papers onto the table as well as made their way back to the table. The two sat and started quietly talking to one another as they waited for the next section of class to start.

"I'm better than you at presentation! Mr. Scratcher says so," Olivia teased.

Nick huffed, "Well I went into it thinking he was gonna yell at me. Also he kinda came out of nowhere when he started asking me questions. You had time to prepare for his questions. Plus he asked me more questions."

"You don't need preparation for something when you are a natural at it. Since I am obviously better, I could teach you my craft of confidence," she sat up straight in a proud fashion.

"Oh yeah, that sounds great," Nick sarcastically responded.

"Sass me all you want, but you'll wish you took it seriously." Olivia smiled at Nick.

The rest of class went by like a breeze considering it was a half day and the classes were in the last 15 minutes of the home room waiting for the bell to dismiss them to go home. Nick's class, since there wasn't anymore assigned work from Mr. Scratcher, just talked for the rest of the time while Mrs. Trelpha sat at her desk looking over the tests she gave out earlier. Nick sat at his desk just listening to the white noise around him as he thought about how he was going to deliver the news to Abigale and how Henry would react to Nick abandoning him on the first day of school. "I've got so much explaining to do for Henry…" Nick worried himself in his head again. "How is Abigale going to react to me being a fox?" Many questions assaulted Nick's head as the time till the end of the day ticked down.

Olivia turned around back to Nick after talking with one of the coyotes that sat near her, "what's up, Nick. Why the long face? I was only talking to that coyote for about 5 minutes," Olivia flattered herself.

"I guess I'm just worried about how I'm going to explain everything to my family," Nick huffed as he rested his head on his folded arms.

"Well they've dealt with you for this long, I don't think that you being a fox would change anything. And if it did well you've always got me!" Olivia excitedly exclaimed.

"I guess you're right. Who am I to complain with what I've got now?" Nick's attitude started to pick up.

"That's the spirit!" Olivia encouraged as the bell rang for the end of school. "Want to wait for our cars together?"

"Sure, but if I see my brother I have to make sure things are okay between us."

"Alright let's go!"

The two foxes made their way to the front of the school. In the mix of all the grade-schoolers it took quite a while to get to the entrance, but the crowd dispersed as they go to the commons. Nick and Olivia waited outside in the warm afternoon sun. Henry never made an appearance while Nick and Olivia waited for their vehicles to come pick them up. Olivia's ride got their first as Olivia dragged Nick along with her to introduce him.

"Hey mom!" Olivia hugged what seemed to be a taller version of herself.

"Hey, Livy! How was your first day?" Ms. Marks embraced her daughter.

"It was great! I meet my new class and met Nick! He's my best friend!" Olivia happily responded.

Nick was a little embarrassed when Olivia introduced him as her best friend, but couldn't help but feel warm about it. "Umm, hello Ms. Marks," Nick greeted.

Ms. Marks pulled Nick into a warm hug worthy of being called motherly. "It's so nice to see my little Livy has made such a fast friend! Foxxes aren't very common at this school, you can't be that Grey fox, can you?"

"No ma'am, I'm Nick Hopps." Nick corrected.

"Hopps? Well it's still nice to see another fox in her grade," she said with a smile.

"Yeah, Nick is adopted into the Hopps' family and today I just told him that he's a fox!" Olivia said proudly.

"Really? That must've been very hard on you Nicky," she said in a consoling fashion.

"It surprised me, but I can't imagine how my family will react."

Ms. Marks had to stifle her laugh. "Oh ignorance is bliss," she thought to herself. "Well it was great meeting you Nicky. If you and Livy ever want to hang out outside of school ask your parents to give me a call." She wrote her number on a piece of paper and handed it to Nick.

"Bye, Nick!" Olivia waved as she got in her car.

"Bye, Livy!" Nick said back in a teasing manner.

After saying goodbye to Olivia and returning to the front of the school the Hopps HCTV pulled in front and opened its doors. Nick was too far away to get to the front of the entering line, but he expected Henry to save him a seat again. Upon getting into the vehicle he looked for Henry immediately. Disappointed, Nick found Henry with another rabbit sitting next to him and Nick attempted to explain himself for earlier that day.

"Hey, Henry… Sorry that I couldn't stay with you the whole day. Apparently I-" Nick got cut off.

"Don't worry about it Nick. Harrison was in my class throughout the day," he gestured to his sibling next to him. "I'll catch you later though."

Nick had thoughts of disbelief going through his mind as he looked for a seat he could take. The only seats that were ever consistently open were the one's toward the front on the top floor because those are the least clean as well as furthest away from the exit. Nick slowly made his way for those seats looking at all of his siblings and how they were all sitting with one another chatting away about their first day. Nick sat alone at the front seat just thinking and tracing the dust on the floor with his hind paw. For the first time in his life, Nick felt left out.

The ride back home seemed never ending for Nick as he sat in silence. The lights eventually came on dismissing Nick's thoughts. Nick waited in his seat to be dismissed looking forward as nothing else around was worth looking at. He realised he was waiting for a long while then decided to look back. Everyone had been dismissed and he didn't notice. He made his way off the vehicle and into the house through the front door.

Nick made a B-line for his room knowing that Abigale would come looking for him if he wasn't at lunch. He thought this to be the best method of finding her as well as giving him some time to think. Nick sat on his chair with his head on his desk when Abigale came in.

"Hey Nicky! How was your first day of grade school?" She started

"Hey mo… Abigale. Can I ask you a question?"

Hey, reader! Sorry this one took so long to come out. I'm currently battling a cold and just couldn't find the motivation to write while looking to a suitable vitamin C source. And the character dialogue between Olivia and Nick seems a bit mature for their age, but I couldn't dumb down my vocabulary, sorry. Anyway as you might be able to tell the next chapter will be Nick's true discovery of his "Hopps origin" and I intend to make it as good as I can, emotion and all, so it might take a bit longer than anticipated. Thanks again for reading and please leave a comment/criticism as they help me so much! See you next time!


	5. Chapter 5

A/N: Hey, Reader! It sure has been a while, hasn't it? Well, I suppose to start things off I owe an apology to you for not updating in such a long while. In my defense, I did make a disclaimer that my real life would take priority every time, but I could use a break from real life and mellow out while writing.

Another reason I haven't updated in a while is that I had a falling out with the fandom as a whole and just couldn't bring myself to write anything with the level of disinterest I had. So after 2 rewatches of the movie and rereading a couple of my personal favorite fics I found the motivation I was looking for.

Now here is the long-awaited entry to Worth so much more!

Chapter 5: Not Always What You Want

Nick sat in silent anticipation as he awaited Abigale to come looking for him. After about five minutes of waiting, he decided to pull the chair out from under his desk and take a seat. After changing his seating arrangement in his room he began to look into the mirror at the end of his desk. He began poking and prodding at different parts of his figure comparing them to framed pictures of relatives and general images that his memory could provide.

The first comparison Nick made was his fur color. He thought about how the main colors in the family were grey, black, brown and the rarer white, but he was the only one to have red fur. While his mind was still on the examination of fur, he began drawing more comparisons of color and texture and his fur was much longer than anyone else's. Nick removed his shirt and lifted his arms and began examining himself as if he just found a bad rash and even gave a subconscious scratch along the cream-colored area along his chest and stomach. He lowered his arms and began to observe his paws looking right at the rough parts on his palms. No one else in his family had these on their paws and they had only been brought up sparsely when his siblings would question what they were.

He, of course, had no answer.

After moving past his chest and arms, Nick started to put his shirt back on, but as he got to his head he hit a snag. Nick, confused for a second, realized that is was just his muzzle getting in the way and tilted his head upward to fit through the collar. Nick, still examining himself, turned his head to get a better look at his muzzle. "Much longer than anyone else's." he thought to himself

Nick sighed to himself and decided to stop looking at himself while comparing, or rather contrasting, all the differences he had with the rest of his family and was content to lazily drop onto his bed, resting his head on his crossed arms. Nick stayed like that for a while before the thought of Olivia crossed his mind and he started to think about calling her today.

Any thought that he might have had at that point in time was quickly interrupted by the creaking of an opening door. He sat up to find the Abigale had entered his room.

"Hey, Nicky! How was your first day of grade school?" she beamed enthusiastically as she started toward the bed.

"Hey, mo…" Nick hesitated, "Abigale, can I ask you a question?"

Abigale was taken aback when Nick called her by her name, but just brushed it off after some thought and replied, "Sure, but first I want to hear all about your first day!" she stated with the same enthusiasm.

Nick wilted somewhat at the thought of how the day had gone but quickly brought himself back up as he prepared to share the events of his day with Abigale. He thought to himself on what he should start with, deciding that sharing the events in chronological order would work best.

Nick closed his eyes briefly as he took in a breath and slowly exhaled. He opened his eyes and looked Abigale in the face with a half-smile as he started the tale from breakfast with Henry and his timidity towards school.

Abigale smiled at Nick when he told the part about convincing Henry that school would be fun and listened intently as Nick continued.

"Me and Henry sat together on the way to school," Nick continued, "and then…"

"Did you sit together on the way back?" Abigale quickly interrupted.

Nick seemed to squirm under this question as he answered back with a "no" trying to sound as cheery as possible.

"Oh," Abigale caught on to Nick's body language, "Then who did you sit with?"

Nick became even more uncomfortable as he didn't want to tell her the truth, "Uhhm… Harrison...?" Nick quickly said being the first name coming to him.

"Oh, okay," Abigale looked at him questioningly, "now how about the rest of the day?"

Nick regained some of his composure, "Henry and me got off and walked toward the door on the right side since everyone else was there and almost lost each other," Nick chuckled to himself.

Nick then started to talk about how the front of the school looked with the school colors, the rock garden and the statue in the middle before Abigale stopped him saying she attended that school as well, but at a different time. Nick shrank at the interruption but quickly started talking about what happened in the commons area.

"Me and Henry got in line and waited to get our IDs," Nick unconsciously took his out to show it to Abigale but caught himself too late.

Abigale took the ID card out of Nick's paw and gave a quick glance on the front and back, "Ohh, how neat. They didn't do this when I was your age," she said as she continued to examine the card.

She paused after looking at the card more closely. "Species: Red Fox," the card read making Abigale go flush for a few seconds before she returned it trying not to look concerned about it.

"Someday he'll be of age and recognize that he is not a bunny," the words echoed in her mind as Nick took back the card.

"That day might be closer than I anticipated," Abigale whispered to herself.

With the card in Nick's paw he looked right at the species section without a word and started about his day again, "so when me and Henry got our cards we wanted to see if we were in the same class," he explained, "but we weren't."

"You weren't?" Abigale asked, "Did you have anyone take a second look at it?"

Nick took in another deep breath, "Henry looked at my card again and saw that my species was wrong."

Abigale gave an almost audible sigh of relief but was cut short of creating a response as Nick continued.

"I got back in line to see if they made it wrong by accident, but before I got to the front I met Olivia. She is a fox," Nick stated with a pleasant tone.

The statement hung in the air between them and stung Abigale like a foul stench as she tried to hide her discomfort. She barely got in another breath as she spluttered words that sounded like "Oh, what's she like?"

Nick did his best to describe Olivia's personality. Smart, outgoing, creative, assertive and generally pleasant to be around. While Nick told Abigale of Olivia, he couldn't help but think of the piece of paper that Mrs. Marks gave him with their phone number on it and subconsciously pulled it out of his pocket to look at it again.

Abigale took notice of the small piece of paper in Nick's paw and asked about it, "Whatchu got there? Something that the school passed out?"

"No, they didn't pass this out. Olivia's mom got to the school before our car did and I got to meet her. She gave me this," Nick waved the small piece of paper in the air.

Abigale briefly saw the other side of the paper and recognized what looked to be a phone number. "Is that Olivia's phone number? The first day of school and you are already getting girls' numbers," she playfully teased.

"What? No! Olivia's mom gave it to me in case we wanted to play after school," Nick slightly blushed as Abigale continued snickering to herself.

Abigale dramatically wiped at her eye as if she had been in a laughing fit, "Now, what happened after you met with Olivia?"

"Umm, well she still had to get her card so I sat down on a bench close to the line to wait for her," Nick hesitated, "I had to ask her something, but before I could she grabbed my hand and ran into the auditorium."

Abigale flinched at "ask her a question" knowing that he was curious about his species and she was a fox. "Who better to answer that question?" she thought. Trying to avoid having that question asked now Abigale bit her tongue to avoid asking what Nick wanted to ask her, "So, how many people were in the auditorium?"

Nick without knowing that Abigale was avoiding the subject, "I don't know," he quickly answered, "but I didn't see any bunnies in the seats. There were a lot of predators though. Everyone sitting around me and Olivia was one."

"Aww, you and Olivia sat next to each other?" Abigale ruffled the fur between Nick's ears.

Nick blushed at the comment, "Yeah," he replied sheepishly.

"So after the audit-. . ." Abigale started before Nick interrupted her.

"Mo- Abigale? Can I ask you a question?" Nick questioned awaiting permission.

Abigale took notice of Nick avoiding calling her "mom" again, and made an assumption that Nick's question would be the very one she was hoping to avoid. She mentally prepared herself and started thinking about ways to ease him into the idea of him being a fox and other ways to comfort him in the event of a breakdown. She wanted to keep this quiet lest the whole younger end of the family make the realization and he becomes "the red-furred child."

Abigale wasn't too worried about Nick in school seeing as he was enrolled in an all species inclusive school. She was more worried about Nick's siblings, specifically those in his age bracket who are under the impression that he is a bunny. Just the thought of Nick being ignored, or even worse, shunned by his own brothers and sisters made Abigale's heart heavy.

"Was all this worrying really worth it? He's going to find out the truth eventually, no matter what I do," she thought. "It would probably be better if he found out sooner rather than later."

"But how will that affect him while he is growing up? How differently will he think of us and how differently would they think of him?" Questions like these flooded Abigale's mind as she prepared for Nick's inevitable question. That is until a dull ringing could be heard from the other side of the doorway.

"Perfect," Abigale thought to herself, "lunch is being called, so I might be able to talk with mom about this…"

Abigale put on a friendly and almost over the top in happiness face as she looked to Nick, "Ya hear that, Nick? Lunch is ready! Better hurry along so you get some food," Abigale encouraged him.

Nick's gaze dropped to the floor and Abigale's heart with it.

"Yeah, but…" Nick started.

"Don't worry," Abigale ruffled the fur between his ears again, "just come back here and you can finish talking about your day."

Abigale purposefully left out the question "Maybe he'll forget?" she thought to herself.

"O-okay," Nick replied.

"And before you go," Abigale pulled Nick into a tight hug and nuzzled her chin on top of his head, "Now run along, don't want to be late for lunch!"

Nick only nodded as he started with a brisk pace out the door toward the kitchen.

Abigale fell back onto Nick's bed in an exhausted manner, "Whew," she breathed, "Alright, … time to find mom."

Nick was navigating the hallways that he has lived in keeping the pace that he had started with when he left his room. He turned a corner and saw a group of his siblings turning another corner just down the hall giving him an idea of where he'd end up in line. While he made his way toward the dining room his thoughts would dart between the incomplete talk that he was having with Abigale and his grumbling stomach.

Nick's stomach growled again, but a little louder, causing him to quicken his pace. He thought that lunch was a good time to think to himself while eating and decide exactly how he wanted to ask Abigale about him being a fox.

Nick's pace quickened as he caught sight of the group from before. He caught up with them but stayed behind a couple of feet. Close enough to have a secure spot in the lunch line, but far enough where he wouldn't be included in whatever they were animatedly talking about at that moment. He decided that he wanted to think on his own for a bit, so this seemed like the best idea.

The next corner that the group and Nick went around led to the foyer, which was only a skip and a hop away from the dining room giving Nick some relief as his stomach groaned again. The group finally made it to the dining room continuing to talk about school, their day and other past events as they grabbed their plates and waiting in the buffet-like-line to get their lunch. Nick, who was still a few feet behind them follow suit waiting patiently as the line slowly moved along.

Another group of Nick's siblings was coming from the same way that Nick came in, but he paid them no mind and just continued looking forward and shuffling with the line. The bunny closest to Nick in the group behind him was raising his voice and making wild gesticulation as he told a funny story. Nick paid him no mind as he continued to face forward, that is until a sharp pain jolted through his body causing him to yip.

Nick pulled his tail away from the ground after having it been stepped on and looked at it. In the fluffy appendage that served as a grim reminder of all his differences from his family, there was still a stinging pain. Nick looked to the offender who already had his hands up in a defensive manner.

The young buck only muttered an apology and Nick went back to defensively grooming his tail. He picked up the plate that he had dropped, continued to wait in line and finally sat down at the table. Eating silently, he thought of how his conversation with Abigale would continue and how his family would react to him being a fox.

While Nick was confident that Abigale would not resent him for being a fox, he wasn't so sure about his siblings. Everyone knows that rabbits and foxes don't get along, let alone predators and prey. His mind eventually filled with doubt and he could only think of the strange looks that his family would give him.

Thinking of the looks he'd get from his siblings, Nick raised his head and looked around the table. To his despair, he noticed some of his brothers and sisters looking at him until he rose his head to meet their eyes. He put his head back down but only low enough to where he could see them, but they couldn't see his eyes.

The group that he had caught looking at him continued to steal glances and whisper to one another. Nick took notice and the emotions that have been building from the bus almost broke through, but he ran to his room before anyone would notice.

Abigale was seeking out Mrs. Hopps to get some motherly advice but only had a short window to find her. Because it is around lunchtime Abigale knew that her mother couldn't be too far from the kitchen so she decided that should be her first stop.

Making her way through the hallways with a pace that was more than a walk, yet less than a run, she made it to the kitchen in no time. Unfortunately, her mother was nowhere to be found, the only ones in the kitchen were those on dish duty cleaning all the dishes used to make lunch.

"Carter!" Abigale called out to her younger brother, "do you know if mom was in here?"

Carter turned from the sink he was working at, "yeah, she was in here, but I didn't bother to ask where she was going," he paused, "my best guess would be that she went to get something to eat."

"Alright, thanks, Carter!" Abigale said as she was about to leave.

"Hey! Where's Nick? I'm surprised you're not eating with him, seeing as you're his mom… In a sense," Carter asked.

This took Abigale off guard, but she was never one to stammer for an answer, "yeah, he is eating right now. It's because of him that I need to find mom."

"Alrighty then, see you later then," Carter finished while turning back to his station.

Abigale turned to the door and quickly made her way to the dining room. Peeking her head around the doorway she looked to the head of the table where her parents usually sit, but only saw her father.

"Dad's gotta know where mom went!" she thought to herself as she made her way over to him.

"Dad, have you seen mom around?" she asked while still swiveling her head.

Stu looked up from his food to address Abigale," umm, no I don't believe I have. Did you check the kitchen? That would be my guess. Well, that or our room…" Stu put a paw to his chin as he looked to the ceiling.

Abigale brushed her paws along her head smoothing down her ears, "I already checked the kitchen, but I'll check your room. Thanks, dad!" She started speed walking over to the foyer, but while she was walking she didn't notice Nick anywhere.

Abigale swallowed hard, "He must have already finished! I gotta get to his room soon…" she thought as she was almost running to her mother's room now.

Doors and hallways flew by as Abigale was headed for her mother's room. She didn't want to keep Nick waiting. She made it to her parent's room and knocked quickly at the door. No answer. She tried again but there was still no answer. Abigale opened the door slightly and poked her head in. The room was dark and no sign of anyone being there.

Abigale, disappointed, closed the door behind her and started toward Nick's room. "I can do this without mom's help," she thought, "sooner is always better than later, right? Right?"

Abigale walked her way to Nick's room and put on a smiling face before knocking, "Hey, Nick! It's Abby!"

Abigale slowly opened the and saw Nick faced away from her holding something in his paws, "Nicky? Are you al-" Abigale walked up behind him and saw what he was holding, his student ID with one of his claws pointing to his species.

Nick turned to face Abigale, tear-stained fur under his eyes making itself obvious in the light from the still-open door, "I'm not a bunny, Abby," a loud sniffled, "I'm a fox!" Nick fell to his knees and Abigale followed suit and embraced him. Hugging him close to her chest and softly running her paw down the back of his head.

"It's okay, Nicky," she hugged him tighter while rocking back and forth, "it'll all be okay."

Hey, reader! Thanks for returning to read my story! Sorry again for how long this took to upload life is crazy. Anyway, I do intend to continue this story and there might be large gaps in time between chapters. Just a heads up lmao. Also a huge shoutout to my two friends Will and 1872 Longstreet for helping me perfect this chapter!


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